[CD REVIEW]Kanye West – Yeezus

Kanye deals with some immeasurably lofty stakes on Yeezus, his sixth solo album. The album was leaked on Friday June 14th (the day before his daughter was born) before its official June 18 release!

Yeezus is something of a razor-sharpened take on 2008’s distressed 808s & Heartbreak and marks a blunt break with the filigreed maximalism Kanye so thoroughly nailed on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. On Yeezus, he trades out smooth soul and anthemic choruses for jarring electro, acid house, and industrial grind while delivering some of his most lewd and heart-crushing tales yet.

Rather than relying on known hitmakers to augment his music, Kanye solicited ideas from exciting up-and-comers including Hudson Mohawke, Young Chop, and Arca. And even veteran producers involved in the project, like Rick Rubin and Daft Punk, were seemingly chosen not for their name recognition but their history of rule-breaking.

Yeezus is Kanye’s most experimental album yet (even more than 808’s & Heartbreaks) and it will probably fly over your head at the first listen. Most of the 10 tracks on the project are layered with controversial lyrics.

Billboard magazine, which compiles the weekly U.S. music charts based on Nielsen SoundScan sales figures, projected that Yeezus could sell 500 000 copies in its first week, making it one of 2013’s big debuts along with Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience.

Is it the last gasp of a man who’s just become a father for the first time? An early midlife crisis? An attempt at alienating the marketplace so he can live as an artist rather than a paparazzi target? Take a listen & decide for yourself